This one was a great story with lots of moving parts. Not simply a romance, but a story of moving on from the past, and confronting those who stand in the way of your future.
Jasmine loves at home and works for her parents at their donut shop. Her parents just want her to meet a nice Asian boy and get married, or get a job somewhere and move out. Jasmine never measures up to her perfect younger brother who has his life together, and is tired of working 70 hours a week to constant insults by her mother.
When a man comes back into her life from college, Jasmine starts thinking that maybe she can finally fulfill her parents’ wishes, but she soon finds out that the perfect man doesn’t exist, and that pleasing her parents might not ever happen.
There were funny moments in this book, and the interactions between Jasmine and Alex were fun and witty, but the most interesting part of this book for me was the relationship that Jasmine has with her mother. The two butt heads often, and mom oftentimes makes her opinions known in very hurtful ways. Nothing that Jasmine does seems to be good enough. Jasmine hates to argue or let her feelings be known because her parents have always worked so hard to give her what she needs.
I loved not only the romance in this book, but the various struggles that Jasmine has with being a person of color, and with her parents’ values clashing with those of her own.
Thank you to Julie Tieu and Avon and Harper Voyager for sending me an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Romance Books Fan 